MODERN SCHOOLBOYS ARE THEY PAMPERED?

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 86, 12 April 1911, Page 11

MODERN SCHOOLBOYS ARE THEY PAMPERED?

"TOM BROWN'S SCHOOLDAYS."(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 17th February. Mr. 6. S. Street recently wrote an article for the Daily Mail on our public schools, in which the view was expressed that the schoolboys of to-day are haTdly of the same- material as that of older generations. This view is supported by the original "Tom Brawn," one of the heroes of the fight described in " Tom Brown's Schooldays." The Rev. Augustus Oiiebar is now nearly i eighty-seven years of age, but he still fulfils the duties of parish priest in Willington, Bedfordshire. Be says: "I am afraid that the boys of to-day are not quite of the same hardy stuff that they were in the days of which my dear old friend Tom Hughes wrote. I "don't imagine for a moment that it is tlieir own fault. Nowadays boys are too much pampered and coddled. There is no moral teacher greater than hard,ship, and seventy years ago the Rugby boy had plenty of that. In my days we used frequently to take our icy cold | baths in the light of pale matches some of the boys would hold aloft. To-day nothing but a warm bath seems to be good enough for a boy. Looking back, I often think that I owe my longevity to the lack of comfort in my boyhood. CAUSE OF THE GREAT FIGHT. Of many other such incidents he told, and then at last came the story of his own fight : — " It wasn't about little Arthur at all. • There never was a, little Arthur nor a Scud East nor a Flashman. All the characters in Tom Brown's Schooldays were made up from bits of boys, just as I, on the occasion of the fight, stood for either Tom Brown or Slogger Williams. My opponent was the older, and, of course, in the book the older boy was Slogger Williams. For some time there had been bad feeling between us, and one day when I entered the hall carryinf; a fives bat I saw my enemy sitting very comfortably enjoying a newspaper. It was too mncfa, and hardly knowing what I did, I managed to knock him with my bat. In a minute we settled down to what

was one of the most prolonged fights, Rugby has ever known. In the book Hughes describes it as ha,ving taken place in. tie close, but that is not correct. It was in the hall itself that we fought, and, of course, that made it very much woree, because we had so little room. Did I win? I'm afraid neither of us can claim the victory, because when Dr. Arnold entered the hall and himself stopped the fight, boih of uss were so badly damaged about the face hp did not;- recognise us. ' Who are these boys'" he asked, and having gained the information promptly set us two hundred lines apiece. Ifc w?s the, first and last occasion that I was in the ring, and my ' antagonist, the Rev. Chancellor Bulkelej Owen Jones, haß i ever since been one of my firmest friends." "SLOGGER" WILLIAMS'S VERSION. The Rot. Chancellor Bulkeley Owen Jones, who ij) the original of Slogger Williams, gives a'diffeient'Version of the famous encounter. Mr. Owen Jones i.s in .his 88th year, and is spending tho evening of his lifo in retirement in North Wales. "What happened was thi&." he said : — "It was a rainy day, and a lot of boys had gathered in the schoolhouse hall. Orlebar was teabing a little fellow, and tho little fellow said to me, "Hpjink him, Jones.' I caught him a rather sharp' tap ; he lost his temper and knocked me down. At once the boys in the hall shouted, 'Fight, Fight ! Jones and Orlebar !' There was no help for it, and we. had a rare set-to. My "own opinion is that I won, because when Arnold came and caught us Oriebar had fainted. My face was so disfigured that the doctor did not know me. When he found out who it was he gave me a double punishment — first for talking in chapel, and secondly for fighting. I had to write out SCO lines of Virgil. Orlebar was a mighty hitter, and punished me severely, but I was in the better condition at the finish, the reason being that I had just been oat twice with the Big Side hare and hounds. It. was a fine sport for keeping a man in condition. Orlebar and I were the best of friends both before and after the fight." WELL-KNOWN" BBFEBEB'S DECISION. Judge Hughes, the authoi of "Tom Brown's Schookhiys," leaves the point open, ;and was wise in his generation. Now, after the lapse of many years, the original of Tom Brown thinks the fight erjded in a draw, while Slogger Williams claims the victory. This important point required deciding, so Mr. Eugene Corri, the best-known authority on boxing in England, was asked to examine the statements of the iwo principals and the account in the book. Mr. Corri says: — "Fi-om this account of the and from what the principals say, my decision is in favour of Tom Brown. He undoubtedly out-pointed Slogger Williams and was the better! He showed himself the cleverer boxer and fought with his head, for when' at the start he found that the in-fighting did not suit him he changed his plans and led on Slosger Williams, much ,to the latter's undoing. Tom apparently was ready to recommence when the doctor came upon the scene, and the fight terminated, and so I think Tom Brown won on points."